


nekomimi switch

by liliumregxle



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Catboys & Catgirls, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Not Beta Read, but i give you CATBOY RYUJI, i love dogs and cats equally sorry if this fic seems like me praising cats, ryuji is clueless and we love him for that, ryuji saying "-nya" at the end of his sentences like some cheap anime, slight mentions of animal cruelty/bad breeding practices, takes place after haru joins but before sae's palace so no akechi, teen for swearing, title is from a vocaloid song but has like... no correlation, you've seen catboy akechi and catboy akira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23746585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liliumregxle/pseuds/liliumregxle
Summary: Ryuji has never been fond of cats. This fact comes to bite him in the ass.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 193





	nekomimi switch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunnymatsu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnymatsu/gifts).



> quinn................... i know we talked about this so i made a fic for it. enjoy and thank you for suggesting ideas
> 
> i always see catboy akira or akechi, but never catboy ryuji. that idea is too funny to pass up, so i made this. enjoy my terrible writing as i write for myself only.
> 
> (also i dont fully know how animal breeders in japan work so the shadow might not be accurate but it appears for like 10 seconds and then is gone)

Ryuji, frankly, had never considered himself a cat person. He’d never had pets growing up- except for a couple fish which, admittedly, were gone in a couple weeks and he had probably not had taken care of properly at all- but he had always considered dogs superior and the best pet. Cats, in all of his experience, were assholes. He’d only been more convinced when he had met Morgana, and the blonde often wondered how Akira liked them so much.

And as he sits on the floor of the Mementos area, trying to process his current situation, Ryuji has to wonder if this was some sort of divine- what was it called again? Retribution? Yeah, divine retribution- for pissing off Mona before they had met Haru.

It’d been a pretty normal day, all things considered. School had gone by as normal, and then Akira had sent out a message, saying the team would be doing a Mementos run.

Ryuji hadn’t really fully understood when Morgana had explained who the target was. He’d explained it was some shitty dude who was purposely inbreeding cats despite knowing the problems, which was leading to kittens with serious health issues to be born, and selling them to people who had zero idea of how the kittens were born, simply for the sake of some quick cash. Akira had also mentioned hearing that the cats weren’t being properly taken care of, as well, and were in crappy conditions.

No matter how Ryuji felt about cats, _any_ person who hurt animals who couldn’t do anything about it was on his shitlist. The other Phantom Thieves had been quick to agree, so they’d quickly set off to Mementos to beat the guy’s ass.

When they arrived, Akira had pulled up Ryuji to fight, along with Haru (who was proving to be a total beast in a fight) and Makoto. The blonde boy had been excited; although he’d gotten to be pretty useful in Okumura’s palace, he’d been benched in Mementos missions as of late, so the change of pace was welcome.

The fight had been going smoothly; Akira had managed to find out the shadow’s weakness to Psi pretty quickly, so Haru had been able to go all out and do some serious damage with Milady. But the more damage she did, the angrier the bastard got- until it finally reached a fever pitch.

The shadow had let out a frustrated, deafening roar, and as Haru raised her axe to go in for a swing, Futaba’s voice had suddenly rang out.

“Haru, watch out!” The ginger yelped from her place inside Necronomicon, “he’s going to-”

Before she could finish, the shadow began to glow with an ominous light. With a grin, it whipped around towards the fluffy-haired girl.

“See how you like this!” It bellowed, and from it’s palm, a bright beam of light shot out, heading straight towards their new team member.

Ryuji’s body was moving before he could even think. Without wasting a second, he bolted towards Haru, throwing his weight towards the other girl to knock her out of the way.

Vaguely, Ryuji registers Haru grunting as she lands from the impact of Ryuji’s hit, and as he braces for incoming pain from the shadow, he notes to apologize to her after he’s been Diarahan’d.

But surprisingly, as the attack blows over him, he feels no pain. It has some force, sure, and it makes him stumble back, but the spell is more like a really strong gust of wind than anything.

The blonde snorts, gripping his weapon. “Damn, that’s all you’ve got?” He asks, rolling his shoulder, “I’m a little disappointed!”

From his right, he hears Makoto gasp, and with a shout, the boy calls upon Captain Kidd, his mask disappearing in a burst of flames. In a swift movement, he calls down a Ziodyne, and the shadow recoils, shouting in pain as it returns to its former self.

They talked down the shadow as usual, but Ryuji kept noticing Akira giving him strange, almost frantic sideways glances as they told the shadow to right its wrongs.

The shadow disappeared and, raising his arms, Ryuji stretched, his back cracking as he leaned back. His Metaverse outfit clinged to his skin annoyingly, and the blonde grimaced. _Damn, I’m gonna need a good shower when I get back,_ he thought, _I’m sweaty as hell today._

Ryuji turned around, facing the rest of the thieves. “Alright, what’s ne-....” he begins, but trails off when he sees 6 pairs of eyes staring directly at him, all of them wide. Cocking his head, Ryuji blinks, confused. “What’s wrong? Do I got something on my face?”

None of them say a word, and in that moment, Ryuji realized that one pair of eyes was missing; the dark grey eyes of Akira. Almost simultaneously, he feels a presence behind him, and then a tug on his- wait, what was Akira even-

Turning his head, Ryuji’s jaw nearly drops to the floor as he sees Akira, whose eyes widen like he’s been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and his red gloves wrapped around a black tail that is sprouting from Ryuji’s ass, a small hole ripped in his phantom thief attire from where it popped out.

Ryuji reaches up and, of course, of fucking course- he feels a pair of large, cat-like ears growing from his head.

Without even thinking, Ryuji takes a deep breath, and just as quickly, lets out a scream.

So that’s why he’s here now.

Sitting on the cold-as-hell floor of Mementos, he swats away Ann’s hand from his new ears for what has to be the 7th time in the last 3 minutes. Makoto and Akira are talking quietly in the corner, staring at him; Futaba cackles at him while she’s typing away at the projections from Necronomicon around her. Yusuke is framing Ryuji in his fingers- god knows why- and worst of all, Morgana is laughing loudest of all, nearly rolling on the ground as he howls with laughter.

Ryuji wants to curl up in a ball and die.

Another hand approaches his ear- Haru’s, he thinks- and he swats it away again, grunting. The blonde can hear Ann making “pspspspspsp” noises at him, but he ignores them, choosing instead to glare at the cackling not-cat in front of him.

“I’m going to kill you,” Rtuji grumbles, all too aware of his new appendage lashing behind him. “Like, actually kill you, Morgana. I’m going to throw you into the damn su-”

“Who’s a cat now, huh?” Morgana nearly screams with laughter, getting his face all up in Ryuji’s. The not-cat raises one of his paws and hits Ryuji on the nose. “Huh? _Huh_?”

That finally gets Ryuji. Letting out a frustrated yowl, Ryuji jumps at the not-cat, fingernails-turned-claws all too ready to slash at the creature. Morgana’s annoying laughs finally stop as he lets out a surprised shout, scrambling to leap out of Ryuji’s grasp. Ann and Haru both gasp as the blonde shoots upwards.

“Come back here, you damn cat!” Ryuji shouts, clambering after Morgana who has jumped onto Akira’s head in an attempt to get away, “I swear to god, you’re going to pay for this, nya!”

Oh. That’s new.

Everyone freezes as they hear what just came out of Ryuji’s mouth. The blonde stops, slapping his hand over his mouth as he processes what he just said.

 _No, no, no, no, holy HELL no,_ Ryuji’s brain screeches, _don’t say another word, Ryuji!_

Ryuji, instead, decides to remove his palm from it’s place over his mouth, stare down at it, and eloquent as ever, he whispers, “What the fuck, nya?”

The group explodes into chaos and noise immediately.

Morgana’s grin spreads even wider on his face, and he begins to laugh again. Futaba joins in, cackling like a madman, and fucking great, Ann is laughing now too. Makoto looks like she’s still trying to process what happened. Yusuke’s face has barely changed, still staring at Ryuji thoughtfully. Haru’s eyes have lit up with what can only be described as pure joy. And Akira, damn him, is chuckling quietly from his place in the corner.

“This is actually the worst,” Ryuji says blankly, arms falling to his side. “I actually think I’m in hell, nya.”

Morgana, Ann, and Futaba’s laughter only increases, but Haru, bless her, stands up and pats Ryuji gently on the shoulder soothingly.

“It’s okay, Ryuji,” she says, and god Ryuji wishes he could believe her, “It’s not that bad. I think it’s charming!”

Makoto nods, a smile- albeit a worried one- on her face. “Haru’s right,” the brunette says, walking over to Ryuji. “This is probably better than you getting hurt,” she explains, glancing at his ears, “And in the long run, this is probably much better than you getting turned into an animal like a frog, or something along those lines.”

Ryuji sighs, having to agree with Makoto’s point. He didn’t even want to think about what the status effect would be like if it was something like that.

“I know,” he grumbles. “I just- why a cat? If this shit made me a dog instead, that’d be way better, nya.”

Ann’s laughter subsides somewhat, and she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. “Are you sure about that?” she says through a chuckle, “I mean, some dogs drool a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. What if it made you have way more drool?”

“Ann, my tongue feels like it’s made of sandpaper right now, so I think either option is just as shitty,” Ryuji snaps, crossing his arms.

Makoto seems to be surprised by this fact. “Don’t cats have rough tongues to help clean themselves better?” She thinks aloud, “I wonder if you grew more hair…”

“Ann has a point though,” Haru says, cutting off the brunette, “I love both, but cats are a lot cleaner than dogs. Dogs tend to be more attracted to things that smell bad, too.” She explains.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryuji grumbles. He turns to Futaba, who’s still laughing to herself as she scrolls through Necronomicon’s projections. “You have any idea how long this is gonna last, nya? It’s been like, 30 minutes already.”

Futaba grins, looking up from the readings. “Well, Nya-ji, I have good news and bad news.” She chuckles almost ominously. Ryuji grimaces at the new nickname.

“Yeah, whatever,” the blonde mutters, “just get on with it, nya.”

“Well, the bad news is, I don’t think it’s going to wear off anytime soon,” Futaba explains, sounding all too happy about that fact, “Necronomicon is reading it as a status effect, but it seems like it has longer lasting effects.” The ginger says, her grin only getting bigger. “I’d give it a good 12 hours before it wears off,” She snickers, “so you’re in for the long haul with those.” Futaba smirks, pointing at the ears. “They’ll probably stick when we get out of the Metaverse, too.”

Ryuji feels said ears fold against his head, black tail lashing again. “For real?” he growls, “You can’t be serious, nya.”

Futaba shrugs, closing the projections with a wave of her hand. “100% sure. Necronomicon is never wrong, Nya-ji.” she says, the smirk still stuck on her face. “The good news is, I think that if we go back, normal people won’t be able to see them. Only people who have been to the Metaverse would be able to,” she says, “kind of like how only people who have heard Mona in here can hear him talk in the real world.”

Makoto nods, pleased with the information. “That’s good. At least we’ll still be able to leave as normal, then,” she mutters, crossing her arms.

“Excuse me, Futaba,” Haru interrupts, raising her hand. “Why is Ryuji’s speech being changed?” The fluffy-haired girl questions, “He’s not really meowing or making real cat noises- it’s just him adding “-nya” to the end.”

Futaba chuckles, and nods, pointing at Haru excitedly. “Good question, my dear pupil!” She exclaims, placing her hands on her hips. “I think it’s a cognition thing- Mona can turn into a bus because cats turning into buses is a widespread cognition, right?” She explains, turning to Ryuji. “In stuff like anime and games, there’s a ton of catboys or catgirls who add “-nya” to the end of their sentences, so of course if Ryuji looks like one, the cognition will be that he’d do exactly that, even if he doesn’t want to.”

Ryuji sighes. “Fine,” he grumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I’ll just go straight home and wait for this to pass over then, nya.” The blonde mumbles, “At least tomorrow’s the weekend.”

“Is that the best idea, though?” Akira speaks up, picking the still laughing Morgana off his head and setting him down on the ground, the rest of the Phantom Thieves turn to their leader in surprise. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, almost nervously.

“The going straight home thing, I mean.” The black haired boy explains, “What if there’s other side effects? It’d be safer for you to stay with someone for the night. Your mom works the night shift today, right?” Akira asks Ryuji, and the blonde nods, surprised that his fellow thief actually remembered that. “That way, maybe we can try and see how long the effect actually lasts, too. In case it ever happens again.” Akira mumbles.

Ryuji thinks about it, and Akira has a point. The speech thing didn’t pop up until a little bit after the initial spell was used- so there’s a pretty good chance there could be other side effects that appear over time as well. Ryuji hums, and gives a nod. “Yeah, alright. I guess that makes sense, nya.”

“You can come to Leblanc, then,” Akira suggests (followed by a snort from Futaba, who Akira shoots a quick glare out), and glancing around, he asked, “I assume nobody else has a problem with that, right?”

The thieves all nod, but one head doesn’t. Yusuke, tapping his chin thoughtfully, speaks up. “Things like this are quite popular online, right?” he asks, “Ryuji, perhaps you can come to the dorms and I can paint i-”

“Not happening, nya,” Ryuji says, cutting the tall, blue haired boy before he can go any further. “No offense, man, but I’d rather go to Leblanc.”

Yusuke looks disappointed, but Ryuji can’t bring himself to be too guilty over it. He didn’t even want to think about that offer. Knowing Yusuke, he’d probably eventually end up asking for a nude painting, and Ryuji was not into the idea of him, nude, with cat ears and a tail being put out into the world.

Morgana, who is _still_ chuckling somehow, hops up, looking strangely smug and eager as he says, “Well then, let’s go! I wanna see how much this tortures Ryuji!”

Grinning, the not-cat runs towards the tracks, turning into the Monabus with a puff of smoke. The bastard even gives a honk to show how excited he is, and Ryuji nearly runs to go tear up the car’s insides before Akira stops him, placing his hand on Ryuji’s shoulder.

“Sorry about him,” the boy says quietly, “Once he has his fun, he’ll be better.” Akira explains as the other Phantom Thieves head toward the bus. Ryuji waves him off, letting out a sigh.

“It’s fine,” the blonde responds, “I probably deserve it a bit, anyways. Let’s just get going, yeah?” Ryuji says, giving a small smile to Akira, “I’m effin’ starvin’, nya.”

The trip to Leblanc felt almost painfully slow. Walking around Tokyo, which was, all things considered, generally crowded wherever you went, with a tail and ears you were completely unfamiliar with was not a pleasant experience.

Ryuji’s new appendage kept brushing against strangers, and while they didn’t notice it at all, Ryuji nearly jumped out of his skin every time it happened. Futaba and Morgana kept snickering everytime he would jump after walking by a person. Akira even giggled quietly a couple times, although very quietly. Ryuji was starting to get tired from glaring so much.

Fitting the tail around his pants was pretty annoying, too. The tail sits at the base of his spine, so he has to wear his pants even lower than he normally does for it to be even slightly comfortable. People keep giving him strange glances, and it hurts to know that it’s more about the way he’s wearing his pants than the fact he has an _actual cat tail_.

When they finally got to Leblanc, Ryuji nearly wanted to cry from relief. Futaba split ways with them to head to the Sakura household, but not before leaning over and whispering something in Akira’s ear that made him go tomato red. The black haired boy had gone to hit her on the shoulder bashfully, but she ran away, giggling before he could do anything.

Akira pushed the door of Leblanc open, the blush still fading from his face. At the sound of the bell chiming, Sojiro looks up, and gives a small smile at the sight of the two boys.

“Nice to see you, Sakamoto.” Sojiro greets, before his brow furrows slightly. “You doing alright, kid? You look exhausted.”

Ryuji stiffens, and chuckles nervously. “Yeah, me and Akira were doing some, uh, training together. So I’m pretty exhausted, nya.”

Ryuji goes to cover his mouth, but he freezes, because Sojiro doesn’t seem to notice the odd new addition to his speech. The old man just nods, before asking Akira something, which Ryuji doesn’t really listen to, because _thank fucking god normal people can’t hear the nyas_. He can hear Morgana snicker from inside Akira’s bag.

“-yeah, he’s going to spend the night, if that’s okay,” Akira is explaining to Sojiro, looking as calm as ever. Ryuji envies the boy’s ability to act so natural. “I rented some old movies and we’re gonna watch them together.”

Sojiro hums, giving a curt nod. “It’s fine. You know the deal. Just don’t be loud,” Sojiro mutters, returning to washing some dishes, “I don’t want you scaring off any customers because you can’t keep an inside voice.”

Akira grins, pushing Ryuji towards the stairs. “Not like you have any customers for us to scare off anyways, Sojiro!” He responds smugly, and Ryuji snorts.

Sojiro gasps with surprise. “Oi! Don’t say that!” he shouts after the boys, who are now clambering up the stairs, all laughs and giggles.

As they get to the top of the stairs, Ryuji hits Akira on the shoulder, grinning. “Don’t say shit like that to him, man,” Ryuji says, his tail sticking up and ears flicking around. “He’s gonna seriously kick you out, nya.”

“If he knew I was keeping two cats in my attic now, sure.” Akira laughs, letting Morgana out of his bag. “But stuff like that won’t hurt him.”

Ryuji pauses, confused. “You got another cat?” He asks, cocking his head. “Where is it?” The blond questions, looking around the dusty attic for another feline.

Akira and Morgana stare at him blankly, and the joke finally sets in for Ryuji.

“Hey,” Ryuji says, realization dawning on him. “ _Hey,_ you asshole, I’m not your new pet!” He gasps, hitting Akira in the side playfully. Akira just grunts and gives a smug grin.

“Maybe if I give you some catnip, you’ll stop being so mean,” Akira jokes, moving over to sit on the ratty couch, placing his chin on his hand and giving a playful look at Ryuji.

“Hardy har,” Ryuji responds, tail bristling slightly at the joke. He pulls out his phone from his back pocket, beginning to type out a message to his mom to let him know he’d be staying over at Leblanc. “Akira Kurusu, master of comedy.”

As he types away, Akira stares at the black tail swishing around behind Ryuji. It’s not super fluffy- in fact, it looks a lot like Morgana’s tail, albeit without the white tip. The ears are straight black as well, and it looks quite strange compared to the bright faux blonde of Ryuji’s hair.

“Hey,” Akira starts, still watching the tail intently (and desperately trying to contain his urge to touch it again). “Why are your ears and tail black and not blonde?”

Ryuji looks up from his phone, and then turns his head around to look at the new appendage. “Huh, I guess it is black,” he murmurs, “Never really fully noticed that ‘til now.” He says, turning around in a circle to try and get a better look at it. “Uh, maybe ‘cause my natural hair is black? I don’t know.”

Akira watches in stunned silence as Ryuji walks in a circle, following his tail. The blonde’s brow is furrowed as he does it, and Akira notices that his tongue is even sticking out from his mouth a little bit as he seems to become more invested in chasing his tail. The sight is adorable, and Akira has to use all his energy to not go straight over and start petting Ryuji.

Morgana leaps up onto the couch to sit beside Akira. The not-cat seems to be greatly amused by the sight. “I think he’s becoming even more cat-like than me,” Morgana stage whispers, grinning. Akira can only nod, eyes still stuck on Ryuji, a gentle smile lighting up his face.

Ryuji’s ears perk up, seeming to notice that the pair is talking about him. The boy seems to realize exactly what he was doing, and blood rushes to his cheeks, turning him bright red.

“I… what was I doing again, nya?” he mutters, and Akira sniggers.

Ryuji, the adorable, dumb boy he is, pouts at Akira. “Don’t be mean! I can’t control it!” He says, waving his arms around frantically and flailing about (the sight reminds Akira of the wacky wavy inflatable tube men they saw in Hawaii, however 100% cuter). All his flailing results in his pants managing to sag down even lower, to which Ryuji lets out a curse of surprise and pulls them up (as far as he can with the tail) again.

Akira just snorts at the sight, but Morgana is much less pleased, letting out a yowl. “Come on, Ryuji, have some decency! Get some better pants!”

Ryuji growls right back, “I can’t help it, man! You don’t have to wear pants, you wouldn’t get it, nya!” He retorts. “You literally walk around the Metaverse pretty much naked!”

The two continue to fight, with Morgana shouting something about “having fur, so it’s different”. But as he watches Ryuji try to hold up his pants, an idea strikes him.

Stepping around the arguing not-cat and catboy, Akira approaches his “closet”, which in actuality is just a bunch of boxes filled with clothes. Crouching down, he digs through the boxes, looking for…. Ah, there it is.

He pulls out a pair of older, somewhat ratty pyjama pants, and a pair of boxers he had recently bought. Quietly, he nods, and stands up to move over to his workbench, clothes in hand.

Ryuji finally seems to notice what Akira’s doing, trailing off in the middle of his argument with Morgana, black ears perking up in curiosity. As the blackhaired boy sits down at the chair of the desk, Ryuji trails after, the tip of his tail quivering slightly.

“What are you doing?” He asks as Akira pulls out a pair of scissors, brown eyes watching the movement of his hands intently.

“Well,” Akira starts, beginning to cut away at the pants, “It’s not a great fix, but if I do this…” He explains, finishing up the cut carefully, and picking it up to reveal a small, circular hole in the back, “You can fit the tail through them, right? That’ll be a lot more comfortable.”

Ryuji’s eyes light up, but the joy fades away just as quickly. “You shouldn't've done that, Akira,” he says, ears flattening against his head, “I don’t want you to ruin your clothes for me.”

Akira simply shrugs, cursing his hands for wanting to pat Ryuji’s head to cheer him up. “I have plenty of other pants. And boxers. It’s fine,” He explains, moving to start cutting a similar hole in the boxers, “and it’s better than seeing your asscrack every 5 seconds.”

“I have to agree with that statement,” Morgana says, glaring at Ryuji’s back. “I’m going to be scarred for life if you don’t just wear those.”

Ryuji snorts, gratefully taking the clothes from Akira. “Thanks, man.” The teen thanks, running towards the stairs excitedly, “I’ll get changed right now, nya!”

“Don’t let Sojiro see it!” Morgana shouts after him, tail lashing, “You’re gonna look like a crazy person otherwise!”

Akira just smiles as he watches the boy descend the stairs.

They settled into a comfortable time from there- the pants worked for Ryuji perfectly, allowing him to wear them where they actually should sit on his hips, a fact Akira is sure Morgana is thankful for. Sojiro had even offered them curry.

Akira had watched in fascination as Ryuji ate the meal on the couch. Whenever he’d bring the spoon up to his mouth, his tongue would flick out unconsciously, and his brow would furrow in frustration as he stuffed the food into his mouth. He’d even accidentally bit his tongue a couple times, thanks to the sharper teeth, and although Akira felt bad, _god_ was it adorable. Rinse and repeat that, and you had Akira staring at Ryuji more than eating his own meal. Ryuji, ever clueless, had simply cocked his head in confusion and asked if Akira wasn’t hungry.

The sun had long since set, and the two were sitting on the couch together, watching some cheap, cheesy sci-fi Akira had rented. Ryuji seemed to be wholly invested in the film, his ears standing up and quivering slightly, eyes wide. Akira, on the other hand, was completely focused elsewhere.

Sitting on the couch with a tail wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, and Ryuji had shifted around quite a few times before finding a comfortable position. Said position was to lay on his stomach, sprawled across the couch, resting his feet across Akira’s lap. Akira hadn’t minded- the two had always been slightly touchy-feely with one another, probably more than most normal people, so it wasn’t strange. He had begun to regret it though, because all he could keep his eyes on was Ryuji’s tail.

As Ryuji watched the movie, the tail lay flat, swishing slowly, back and forth. It sat so temptingly close to Akira’s hands, but he bit his lip, keeping his hands by his sides.

Akira loves cats. That fact should be clear. He’d been smitten by Morgana ever since they had met, purely because he looked like a cat. And now, his best friend, his dumb, adorable, blonde best friend who he, admittedly, had a bit of a crush on, is sitting _right_ there, with cat ears and a tail.

Ryuji had been so freaked out when Akira had originally tugged on his tail that the dark haired boy was hesitant to touch any of the new appendages again, in fear of making Ryuji uncomfortable. The situation itself was freaky enough as is, and he didn’t want to make it worse on the boy or upset him.

But _god_ , is it tempting. He keeps having to grip the fabric of his pants to avoid grabbing at the tail. He’d always considered himself a person with good self control, but catboy Ryuji is about to ruin that.

Vaguely, he hears Ryuji yawn and make a sarcastic comment about the movie, but he barely hears it as he debates the moral dilemma of possibly making his friend upset just so he can touch the cute tail laying in front of him in his head.

“-ira? Akiraaaa?” Ryuji calls, turning his head to look at the other boy. When he sees him staring at his tail, he simply asks, “Is something wrong? I can move, if ya want, nya.”

“Can I pet you?” Akira blurts out before he can even think about it. Somewhere, in the background, he hears Morgana make a choking noise at what he just said.

Ryuji looks at him blankly, ears flicking slightly, before he finally seems to process the question. “Oh,” he says, “ _Oh._ ”

Akira reaches up and scratches at the back of his neck nervously. “Sorry,” he mumbles, glancing away, “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, so-”

“It’s okay!” Ryuji interrupts, and his tail begins to quiver slightly. Akira can’t really read the emotion on his face, but a slight blush is blooming across the blonde’s cheeks. Ryuji moves, resting on his knees to look at Akira better. “If you want to. It… won’t hurt or anything, nya.” The teen mumbles.

Akira feels so dumb for not asking sooner. Ryuji’s face is lit up from the light of the TV, and he looks strangely pretty. His ears are perked up eagerly, and he can see that his tail is still quivering excitedly. Akira reaches up hesitantly, but pauses before he can touch the other boy’s head.

“Are you sure?” Akira asks quietly, retracting his hand slightly, “I really don’t wanna do this if it’ll make you uncomfortab-”

“Augh!” Ryuji yelps, “Just do it already, dumbass!” He grabs Akira by the wrist and places it on his head, “If you’re gonna do it, then just do it, nya!”

That’s confirmation enough for Akira. Gently, he begins to scratch through Ryuji’s locks. Carefully, he reaches for a spot that he knows Morgana loves, rubbing the spot behind one of Ryuji’s dark ears.

“Oh, _holy shit,_ ” Ryuji murmurs, pushing up into Akira’s hand, his eyes closing as he revels in the attention. Taking that as a good sign, Akira scratches harder, and from Ryuji’s throat, a gentle rumbling starts.

Ryuji is fucking _purring_.

“Keep goin’, man,” The blonde mumbles through his purrs, words slightly slurring together. Akira hears another strange noise, and when he looks down, Ryuji is kneading at the fabric of the couch, just as a cat would. There’s going to be so many holes in it tomorrow, but oh my god is it worth it.

Ryuji, seemingly unconsciously, leans forward, and splays across Akira’s lap, giving him better access to his head. All the while, Ryuji’s still purring, and pretty loudly, too. His tail is flicking back and forth happily.

Akira hums, and moves his free hand to trail down Ryuji’s spine, while still dutifully scratching at the place on the blonde’s ear with his other hand. Ryuji’s back arches as he does so, and Akira chuckles. In the back of his mind, he’s thankful that Sojiro is gone and has locked up for the night, because if any normal person saw this, they’d probably think that both boys were crazy.

Akira scratches at the base of the tail, which only serves to make Ryuji’s purring more intense. The dark haired boy sniggers, “If I had known you’d like being pet this much, I would have done it way sooner,” he jokes, moving his hand to scratch underneath Ryuji’s chin, another place Morgana was fond of.

“I would’ve asked way sooner if I knew it’d feel this nice, nya.” Ryuji responds, relishing in Akira’s pets. He yawns, and adds, “But you better not tell any of the other thieves, or I’ll bite you…” he mutters, trailing off, the sentence punctuated by another long yawn.

“Of course not,” Akira replies back quietly, already feeling sleep calling his name, too. “It’s our secret.”

Ryuji simply nuzzles further into Akira’s touch, sleep finally seeming to overtake him, and slowly, his tail stops swaying as he nods off. He’s still purring quietly in his sleep, and the rumbling is like a lullaby to Akira’s ears. Illuminated by the light from the TV, the movie still playing quietly in the background, and Ryuji’s purring still going strong, the dark haired boy closes his eyes and drifts off.

**Author's Note:**

> ryuji's ears and tail are gone in the morning and akira pouts about it for the next 3 days


End file.
